64 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. 



[November, 



if he were parting from his dearest friends on the eve of a long 

 journey; contrasting strongly with the apathy of the Indian, 

 who scarcely ever exhibits any feelings of regret on parting, or 

 of pleasure on his return. In the evening they play and sing 

 in their own houses : their instrument is a home-made guitar> 

 from which they obtain three or four notes, which are repeated 

 for hours with the most wearisome monotony. To this music 

 they join an extempore song, generally relating to some events 

 of the day ; and the doings of the " brancos," or white people, 

 have often a considerable share in it. Many of them keep 

 fowls and ducks, which they sell, to buy any little luxuries th^y 

 may require, and they often go fishing to supply the house, 

 when they have a share for themselves. 



Every Saturday evening they meet for Divine service, which 

 is performed in a room fitted up as a chapel, with an altar 

 gaily decorated with figures of the Virgin and Child, and 

 several saints painted and gilt in a most brilliant manner. 

 Some of these figures are the work of Senhor Leonardo, who 

 is an excellent self-taught carver ; and when the candles are 

 lit, and all is in order, the effect is equal to that of many village 

 churches. Two of the oldest Negroes conduct the service, 

 kneeling at the altar ; the rest kneel or stand about the room. 

 What they chant is, I believe, part of the vesper service of the 

 Roman Catholic Church, and all join in the responses with 

 much fervour, though without understanding a word. Sunday 

 is their own day, for working in their gardens, hunting, or 

 idleness, as they choose; and in the evening they often 

 assemble in the verandah to dance, and sometimes keep it 

 up all night. 



While I was on the island a child of a few weeks old was to 

 be baptized. This they consider a most important ceremony ; 

 so the father and mother, with godfathers and godmothers, set 

 out in a canoe for Chaves, on the island of Marajo, the nearest 

 place where there is a priest. They were absent three days, 

 and then returned with the news that the Padre was ill, and 

 could not perform the ceremony ; so they were obliged to bring 

 back the poor little unsanctified creature, liable, according to 

 their ideas, should it die, to eternal perdition. The same 

 evening they sang for three hours to their usual music the 

 whole history of their journey, judging from the portions which 

 were here and there intelligible. 



